Brave
by TwilightUchiha24
Summary: "Thanks Hinata! You are most definitely my new hero!" Sometimes the protected have to step up and be the protectors...


**Brave**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of it's characters...all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto...<strong>

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><p>"Man, this isn't fair!" the blonde haired boy shouted, kicking a rock that lied helplessly in his way. "Why is it that Sakura doesn't like me, but she likes that jerk Sasuke! It makes no sense at all!" he yelled, plopping himself down on an unoccupied bench. His entire morning had been spent trying to get the girl he liked to go out with him, and in return all he got was a punch in the face. Life just never seemed to wanna go his way.<p>

He exhaled softly and propped his elbows on his knees, a frown apparent on his sun-kissed cheeks. He began fiddling with an idea in his head, one that he thought might be able to make his little fantasy come true, but the sound of approaching footsteps snapped him out of his dreamland.

The boy looked up, only to see a dark haired girl approaching him. As her face came into focus, he recognized her as Hinata Hyuuga.

"Hinata!" he yelled, making a pink blush immediately spread across the girl's face. She stopped midstep and seemed to figit in place before she finally turned to the blonde haired boy. He smiled widely as she turned to greet him.

"N-Naruto, ummm, how are you?" she quietly mumbled, turning her gaze this way and that, trying not to focus completely on the boy infront of her. She knew if she did, she might risk fainting infront of him, and it she didn't wanna have that happen for the millionth time. It was so embarrassing.

"Well, physically I'm super sexy! Unlike that stupid Sasuke. But mentally I'm going insane! I'm sitting here trying to think of a way to get Sakura to go out with me and not with that jerkface Sasuke," Naruto growled, throwing his hand into a fist. Hinata shyly pulled her hair over her shoulder and looked toward the ground. Naruto noticed her odd behavior immediately and smiled to himself. "Hey, Hinata, why don't you help me? You're a girl and so you have to know what girls like. You would be perfect for the job!"

"T-The j-job?" she studdered, looking up at his face with curiousity.

"Yes! The super awesome job! And you start right now, so come on!" Naruto shouted, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with him. "This is gonna be awesome! I can't wait to see some of your ingenius plans Hinata! I'm sure they are brilliant! This plan is absolutely full proof! I'm just so amazingly awesome for thinking this up!"

"N-Naruto, where are w-we going?" she timidly asked, looking around at her surroundings.

The blonde just smiled widely to himself and turned around to focus his attention on the girl he was dragging along. "To my house of course! We are gonna begin formulating an awesome plan that only super masterminds like ourselves could possibly think up! Sasuke doesn't stand a chance! He is gonna go down! I'm gonna win this battle! He can't touch this!" he sang, turning back around to watch where he was going but dancing around to the song that he was now singing to himself.

"Your h-house?" she questioned, although more to herself. Her pink blush instantly turned red at the realization that she would soon be inside Naruto Uzumaki's house.

This could possibly be the best day of her life.

Naruto continued to drag the blushing Hinata along with him. This earned the two many stares from surrounding people. The city streets were booming and packed full of life, so they had quite the audience as they continued on there way.

Finally, the two entered a large appartment building and immediately took the elevator up to the third floor. The blushing girl was soon pulled into a room and the door was frantically shut, an impatient Naruto quickly shoving her on his bright orange couch and quickly dashing off to God only knows where.

Hinata sat in pure amazement. This was it. She was in Naruto's house. The house of the boy she was madly in love with. This was just perfect! She couldn't help but smile proudly to herself. The approaching sound of hurried footsteps made her smile instantly disappear as her blush quickly returned.

"Ok! I got a pen! I think it works anyways. And I got some paper!" Naruto shouted, holding up a crumpled peice of notebook paper and a slightly battered ink pen. "Ok, do your stuff Hinata! And make it awesome! Make it a one-of-a-kind idea! A super juicy one!" he smiled, readying his pen to immediately jot down the girl's ideas on this crucial matter.

Hinata frowned to herself at the realization that she was only here to help him try and get another girl, but atleast she did get this time alone with him. She began running ideas over in her head, trying to think of the perfect plan for him to score a girl like Sakura, but the boy's growling stomach interrupted her thoughts.

Naruto grinned sheepishly to himself. "Haha, sorry Hinata. I guess I'm a bit hungry. What do you say I fix me and you up some of my famous instant ramen and then we can go back to making a plan?" he questioned, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment of his continuous growling stomach. Hinata only smiled and nodded in response.

She watched as he practically lept off the couch and sprinted toward his kitchen. She couldn't help but giggle at his anticipation for a quick bite to eat. Being polite, she quietly stood to her feet, approaching the kitchen to help the boy cook their meal.

She began to giggle again as she stood and watched the amusing scene before her. Naruto was helplessly jumping up and down with a spatula in his hand, attempting to knock over the packages of instant ramen that were stacked messily on his top shelf. She, for a second, wondered how they had gotten up there in the first place.

"Stupid shelf! You think you can overpower me? I'm a man! You can't defeat me that easily! Dangit! This should be easy!" he grumbled, throwing the spatula down to the ground and stomping his foot like a child. The angelic laughter that filled his ears caused him to stop what he was doing and turn around.

Hinata leaned against the doorframe, a small hand covering her mouth as she let little giggles escape her lips. Her dark hair had slightly fallen infront of her light blue eyes and the smile that graced her featured made the blonde boy do a double take. He had never noticed the girl in this way before. The way the sun hit her face just right gave her an almost heavenly glow.

Naruto was mesmerized...

Hinata stopped her laughing as soon as she noticed his ocean blue eyes glued to her. The dark blush crept back onto her face as she turned away in embarrassment. "Ummm, N-Naruto, why don't you try the stool?" she quietly suggested, still not making eye contact.

Naruto snapped back to reality and slapped his forehead in stupor. "Oh! The stool! Of course! You know, your pretty smart there Hinata," he complimented, not realizing how simple the situation really was. Hinata just nodded in response once again.

The boy quickly ran for the stool and propped it up against the counter. Stepping onto it he was easily able to reach for two cups of instant ramen. He smiled as he grabbed the two cups and sat them on the countertop, but thats when a faint noise entered his ears. He looked up in curiosity and his eyes soon widened at the realization of what the noise had been.

Right there on his top shelf, sat a small mouse eagerly chewing on a cracker crumb.

Naruto blinked and then let the situation fully process in his head.

One...Two...Three...

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" the boy screamed, quickly losing his balance on the stool and falling helplessly to the floor.

Hinata turned around in shock, wondering why the boy had suddenly had an outburst, but his large figure appeared infront of her, tackling her to the ground before she could ask any questions.

"Hurry! Oh my God! Hurry Hinata! To the couch! Quick! It's on our tales! I can feel it's evil radiating behind me! Its coming!" he shouted, hopping onto his orange couch and pulling Hinata onto the spot beside him.

"N-Naruto, whats wrong?" she timidly asked, looking into the kitchen to try and find the source of his shouts.

Naruto also stole a quick glance into the kitchen but, to his horror, the mouse was gone. "No! Oh no! Great! Where did it go? Where could it have possibly gone? It's gonna sneak out of nowhere and mercilessly kill me! This is horrible! I don't wanna die! I'm to young to die! I gotta-ugh! Where is it? Where did it go?" he questioned, looking around quickly and shaking with fear.

"What are we looking for?" Hinata asked, suddenly losing her stammer.

"The mouse! The giant mouse with dripping fangs and blood red eyes and demon claws!" the boy shouted, grabbing a pillow to hold up in defense.

Hinata just stared blankly at him, blinking twice in amusement. Naruto was scared of mice?

"Don't just stand there and stare at me Hinata! You gotta be on the lookout! He could be anywhere! Ready to attack us at any given moment!" Naruto shakily announced, looking from side to side and holding the pillow in comfort.

"Ummmm, Naruto, its just a tiny little mouse. Theres honestly nothing to be scared of," Hinata spoke, reaching her hand out to calmly rest it on his arm in a comforting manner.

"Are you kidding me Hinata! Those things give me the peeps! I mean creeps!" he studdered, sounding more and more like Hinata. "This isn't how I wanted to die! I never wanted it to end this way! Not in this painful and gruesome way! I never got to try all the flavors of ramen! I never got to totally own Sasuke! This isn't fair! This is terrible! Goodbye cruel world!"

Hinata smiled at the frightened boy. This whole situation was really quite amusing. The big and bad Naruto was completely terrified of a tiny mouse. She was about to pull him down so he would be sitting instead of standing on the couch, but the creature scurrying across the floor in the livingroom, stopped her from doing so.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh! There it is! It's back!" the blonde yelled in panic, jumping helplessly behind Hinata and holding tightly to her back. "It's gonna eat me! Oh my God! Imma die!" he cried, sounding more scared with each declaration.

Hinata smirked at the tiny mouse that was now perched quietly under a small table. This was perfect. She slowly peeled Naruto's hands off her shoulders and stepped down from the couch, silently creeping over to the little mouse. The table he was under was placed right beside the door. As long as she was quiet, she sjould be able to open the door and then usher the little creature out of the room.

"Hinata! What are you doing? It isn't safe! It could turn on you! Don't let the whiskers fool you!" Naruto pleaded, trying to grab for her hand. She ignored him and continued to creep quietly over to the door.

She leaned forward a bit and wrapped her small fingers around the brass doorknob. With ease, she quietly turned it and slid it opened. Naruto covered his worried face with the pillow, not daring to see what happened to the poor girl infront of him. Hinata looked down and smiled at the little mouse beofre taking her foot and gently ushering it out of the room. The small creature quickly scurried out the door and down the hall, never looking back.

Naruto peeled the pillow away from his face as he heard the door shut softly. "Is it gone?" he questioned, looking around to see if he could still see the evil little monster's figure.

"Yup, hes gone. I took care of him," she smiled, dusting her hands off to add to her cool demeanor. It had just been a little mouse she delt with, but apparently to Naruto, who seemed to be deathly afraid of the little mammal, it was a big deal.

She froze in place when she felt his warm arms wrap themselves around her small figure. He was hugging her. Naruto Uzumaki was hugging her. The man of her dreams was hugging her, and with a huge smile plastered across his face. She didn't realize just how much this situation must have scared him until that very moment. She must have really done something outstanding in his eyes for him to be treating her like she was the most amazing person on earth.

"Thanks Hinata! You are most definitely my new hero!" he exclaimed, tightening his grip around her. It didn't feel like he was gonna be letting go of her any time soon, and she kinda liked the idea of that.

Hinata smiled to herself, and thats when she noticed something. She hadn't been studdering or blushing this whole time. Throughout the whole 'mouse crisis' she had remained calm and collected, never once faltering in her mood.

It seemed that she had gained the need to be brave at the time when Naruto couldn't be.

"No problem Naruto," she smiled, turning around in his arms to return the hug.

Naruto's smile widened when she suddenly turned in his arms and embraced him back. He had never really gave Hinata a second thought, but standing with her wrapped up in his arms at the moment was making him think twice about his earlier motives.

"Hinata, don't worry about thinking up a plan for me and Sakura anymore. I think maybe she belongs with Sasuke, even though he is a jerkface and I am ten times cooler than he will ever dream to be," Naruto muttered, pulling slightly away from the petite girl to gaze at her face.

She looked into his eyes with curiosity at his statement. "Why?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Because, I think I've finally found who I belong with," he smirked, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Hinata immediately gained back her blush at the realization of what he meant. He wanted to be with her. She was who he wanted to belong to. She smiled a tiny smile at the thought. She could probably help him out with that. Her head resting on his shoulder was his silent but obvious answer, and to that he smirked in triumph.

"So, how bout that super, deliscious, Naruto-famous ramen?" the blonde suddenly suggested. The girl's slow nod against his shoulder gave him the answer and so he gently pulled away and pulled her along and into the kitchen with him.

He grabbed the two cups of instant ramen that he had laid down on the counter earlier and began preparing the meal by heating up some water. Hinata stood back, leaning against the counter as she watched him go to work at fixing up their meal.

"Wait! What the heck am I doing? I always eat two cups of ramen. Sorry Hinata, but Big Daddys gotta eat, so it might take a little longer than expected," Naruto explained, snickering at the nickname he had given himself. He quickly grabbed the stool and pushed it back against the counter. Reaching up, he grabbed another cup of ramen and sat it down on the counter.

Suddenly, he looked up in alert. He glanced around the top shelf, but saw nothing.

Strange...

He swore he had heard something.

"You ok Naruto?" Hinata asked from beside him, lightly setting her hand on his tense shoulder.

"Of course Hinata! I am Naruto Uzumaki! I'm the orange beast of Konoha! Believe it!" he grinned, ripping the plastic covering off the top of the ramen cup.

He looked down with a smile on his face, but something inside the cup caught his eye.

Staring directly back at him, was a tiny grey mouse, chewing innocently on a peice of dry ramen.

Naruto blinked once...

Twice...

Three times...

And the mouse just stared...

"Naruto?" Hinata hesitantly questioned, spotting the small mouse that was looking up at the blonde.

One...Two...Three...

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

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><p><strong>AN: Yes, this was a story out of 'The Alphabet of Love', but I deleted it because I wasn't ever gonna get around to finishing it. So, instead I'm posting all of the stories seperately. Anways, review please! ;)**


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